adjective / adverb · neutral

northward

UK/ˈnɔːθwəd/US/ˈnɔːrθwərd/NORTH·ward

Band 5-6task2speaking

toward the north; in a northward direction

Examples

The birds flew northward as winter approached.

A northward current affects the local climate.

She set off on a northward walk along the coast.

Band 8 sentence

Satellite data show a steady northward shift of the species' habitat over the past thirty years.

Collocations

  • northward migration
  • northward trend

Word family

northward adj/advnorthwards adv (BrE variant)

Common mistakes

to the northwardsto the north / northward

Say it for a higher band

5to the north6north7+northward

Synonyms

to the north

Easily confused

northwards

They continued northwards until they reached the border.

to the north

Small towns lie to the north of the capital.

Related words

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In -ward

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